In many telecommunication systems, communications networks are used to exchange messages among several interacting spatially-separated devices. Wireless networks are often preferred when the network elements are mobile and thus have dynamic connectivity needs, or if the network architecture is formed in an ad hoc, rather than fixed, topology.
As faster and more efficient wireless communication protocols are developed, there becomes a need for differentiating between the different wireless communication protocols to ensure compatibility between different WiFi standards. Because data for configuring or parsing the remainder of a data packet can be included in one more fields or symbols of a preamble of the data packet, it can be desirable for a receiving device to be able to determine a received data packet's communication protocol after receiving and processing as little of the preamble as possible. Thus, there is a need for methods and apparatus for early detection of high efficiency wireless (HEW) packets in wireless communication.